Drawer partition



Jan. 3, 1933. c. R. THOMAS, JR., ET AL 1,893,136

DRAWER PARTITION Filed Dec. 26, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Affm 1933' c. R. THOMA$,'JR.. ET Al; 386

DRAWER PARTITION Filed Dec. 26, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented .Ian. 3, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT oFrrcE CHARLES R. THOMAS, 3a., or nnnxnn HILL, PENNSYLVANIA, AnnBEnNAnn Wren,

or HERKIMER, NEW YORK, Assreivo'ns 'ro NATIONAL DESK COMPANY, OF HERKI- 'MER, NEW YORK DRA ER. PARTITION Applicationjfiled December 26, 1931. Serial No. 583,244.

- This invention relates to drawers for desks or other articles of furniture, and particularly to adjustable means for securing part1- tions in the drawers. V

The objects of this invention areflto provide a drawer with means for securing transverse partitions therein in such a manner as to permit the partition to be readily removed from the drawer and to be shifted to any desired position lengthwise of the drawer; also to provide a clip for securing a partition within a drawer, which clip is-provided with means of novel construction for ifrictionally holding itself in correct relation to a side of the drawer independently of said partition; also to provide a clip of this kind which is arranged to hold a partition in correct position in a drawer and which is held in correot relation to the drawer by the partition also to improve partition holding means and clips in other'respects hereinafter specified. In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 represents a fragmentaryperspective view of the interior of a drawer having partition holding means embodying this invention arranged thereon; I I

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of a drawer, partly in section;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation thereof, on line 33, Fig. 2;

' Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view thereof, on line 4:l, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a partition retaining clip removed from the drawer, the dotted lines representing the slots in the drawer into which the upper and lower ends of the clip are pressed;

Fig. 6 is a sectional elevation thereof, on line 6'6, Fig. 2; V

Fig. 7 is a faceview of a metal stamping from which a clip may be formed.

A represents the frontwall of a drawer, B the bottom thereof and C the sides of the drawer, which may be provided with slots 0 toreceive the side edges of the bottom B. All of these parts are commonly used in drawer construction and are illustrated merely to show how our invention may be applied to a drawer. D represents apartition arranged to extend transversely of the drawer from one side thereof to the other and this parti tion may rest upon the bottom '13 of the drawer. These partitions are ordinarily held in place by'having the ends thereof arranged in upright slots cut in the sides of thedrawer, but these slots do not permit adjusting of the partitions to suit all different conditions-and also necessitate a separate operation for cutting the upright slots in the drawer sides In accordance with this invention, each drawer side has a pair of slots 9 and 10 extending lengthwiseon the inner face there of, and clips E are provided which form connections betwen the partition and the side walls. These clips have portions extending into the slots 9 and 10 and portions'engaging the ends of the partition D. These clips are preferably formed of resilient material, such as sheet metal, and may be formed from stampings, such as the one shown in Fig. 7, having a body portion 12 which, when the clip is in use, lies flat against the side of the drawer between the slots 9 and 10 and mainly between one end of the partitions and the drawer side. The clip is also preferably provided at opposite sides of the body portion with lugs or partition holding projections 14 which may be bent along the broken lines 15 in Fig. 7, into positions to form between them a channel or space into which an end of the partition D may enter.

At the upper and lower ends of the body portion 12 are formed arms which may be bent along broken lines 16 shown inFig. 7, in a direction opposite to the direction in which thelugs 14: are bent. In the constructionshown, a pair of arms 17 is provided at each end of the body portion 12, the arms of each pair extending in opposite directions. The clip is preferably made of spring metal and the arms 17 are consequently sprung either outwardly or inwardly to engage either of the shoulders formed by the two walls'of each of the opposed slots 9 and 10, the arms in the clip shown in the drawings being sprung outwardly, as clearly shown in Fig. 6, so'tha t when the arms are placed into the slots 9 and 10, the upper and lower arms must first be pressed toward each other against the spring action of the metal of the clip. Similarly, the lugs 14 which engage the partition are also sprung toward each other, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, so that the outer edges of the lugs 1e yieldingly grip the partition B. The spring action of the arms 17 serves to frictionally engage the walls of the slots 9 and 10 in such a manner as to hold the partition D in correct upright position and four arms are preferably employed, since they insure the holding of the partition in upright position, although any desired number of these arms may be employed. The arms, by their engagement with the opposed shoulders, also serve to frictionally resist movement of the partition lengthwise of the drawer, but if desired, for the purpose of adjusting the partition, the clips E may he slid lengthwise of the grooves 9 and 10 by the use of sufi'icient force to overcome the friction. In order to cooperate to best advantage with the arms of the clips the grooves or slots 9 and 10 arepreferably cut into the sides of the drawer at substantially right angles to the inner faces of the sides. This also results in the minimum weakening of the drawer sides by theslots and reduces the tendency of either edge portion of a slot to become broken or split.

By having the lugs i l yieldingly grip the partition D, the same is securely held against rattling and also the clips will readily accommodate themselves to variations in thicle ness of the partitions. It willbe noted that by the useof these clips, no pressure is applied endwise to the partition, which might tend to warp the partition or bend the same to assume a curved or bowed form. The partition can be easily removed from the drawer by lifting the same vertically so that the ends of the partition slide in the space between the lugs 14.

The means described for holding the partitions in drawers are inexpensive to apply, in that the clips can be readily formed ofa small piece of sheet-metal and the slots 9 and 10 can be cut in the drawer sides during the same operation that the usual groove 0 is cut therein. The clips permit the partitions to be secured at any distance from the ends of the drawer so that the interior of the drawer can be divided into spaces of such size as to best accommodate the material which is placed in the drawer. e

The clip described also has the advantage that the upright body portion thereof is arranged between the side wall and the adja cent end of the partition and the lugs l l lie in close contact with the partition, while the arms 17 are entirely out of the way in the grooves 9 and 10 so that none of the space within the drawer available for storage of articles is taken up by the clips E, nor do the clips interfere with placing articles into or removing them from the drawer.

The construction described has the additional advantages that any desired number of operative positions so that the clips cannot accidentally -getout of'their operative positions unless the partitions held by the clips are first remove H The. construction also hasthe advantage that the grooves 9 and 10 do not detractin any way from the appearance of the interior of the drawer, as do the upright slots heretoforeemployed, for the reason that the slots 9 and 10 shown inthe drawings, are spaced well below the top of the drawer wherethey are scarcely noticeable.

We claim as our invention:

1. The combination with a drawer having sides each provided with a pair of parallel grooves extending lengthwise thereof and which are formed with horizontal walls, and a transverse partition, of a pair'of clips for adjustably securing said partition crosswise of said drawer, each of said clips including a flat, uprightbody portion terminating at its upper and lower ends in spring arms bent in a plane at an angle to said body portion to enter said grooves, and said arms being further bent in a plane parallel to the plane of said body portion each to engage a horizontal wall of one of said grooves and yieldingly hold theclip by friction in any position lengthwise of said grooves, the body portion of each clip having parts adapted to embrace the adjacent end of-the partition to yieldingly hold the same in the desired position in said drawer.

2. Clips for releasably securing partitions to two parallel drawer sides, each side having a. pair of parallel grooves extendinglengthwise .thereof, each clip including an upright body portion having spring arms bent at an angle thereto at the upper and lower ends thereof and adapted to enter said grooves, and a pair of upright ears bent in a direction opposite to said arms'and adapted to releasably engage the opposite faces of a partition, said arms exerting opposed spring pressure against the walls of said grooves in a vertical direction to frictionally hold said partition in fixed relation to the drawer, and whereby said clips will be retained in said grooves by said spring pressure when said partition is disengaged from said clips.

3. A clip for securing a partition to a drawer side provided with apair of parallel horizontal grooves extending lengthwise thereof and formed with horizontal walls, said clip including an upright body portion having horizontal spring arms at the upper and lower ends thereof bent at an angle thereto to enter said grooves, said arms having opposed bent portions formed to yieldingly press against opposite horizontal walls of said grooves to yieldingly and frictionally hold the clip against movement lengthwise of the drawer side, and said clip having an upright recess adapted to receive and sup port an end of a partition.

4; A clip for securing a partition to a drawer side provided with a pair of parallel I grooves extending lengthwise thereof, said clip being made of sheet metal including an upright body portion arranged to be positioned between the drawer side and the adjacent end of the partition, upper and lower spring arms extending forwardly and rearwardly from said body portion with reference to the drawer sides and bent over and away from said body portion so as to enter said grooves, and said arms being respectively bent in opposite directions and in a vertical plane to yieldingly engage opposed walls of said grooves and frictionally hold said clip in said grooves, and lugs at the sides of said body portion formed from the metal between upper and lower arms and bent relatively to said body portion in a direction opposite to that in which said arms are bent and adapted to engage the opposite faces of a partition near the ends thereof.

5. Clips for adjustably securing partitions to supporting side walls each having opposed, substantially parallel shoulders, said clips having spring arms formed to yieldingly engage said opposed shoulders to facilitate adjustment of said clips lengthwise of said side walls and to frictionally retain said clips on said side walls independently of said parti tions, said clips further having means for engaging said partitions to hold the same in desired relation to said side walls.

6. A clip for securing a partition to a supporting side wall having opposed substantial- 1y parallel shoulders, said clip having a body portion provided with partition engaging means, and opposed spring arms at opposite ends of said body portion formed to yieldingly engage said opposed shoulders and frictionally retain said clip on said side wall.

CHARLES R. THOMAS, JR. BERNARD WICH. 

